Communist Party of Chile

The Communist Party of Chile is a communist political party in Chile, founded in 1922. The party, founded by Luis Emilio Rebacarren, gained congressional representation shortly after its foundation, as it had ties with the Soviet Union, the Comintern, and the Chilean labor movement. In 1948, the Radical Party of Chile banned the Communist Party, and the party was not legalized until 1958. During the 1960s, it had 27,500 members, and the party formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Chile in 1970. After the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat, Augusto Pinochet's fascist military dictatorship banned the Communist Party, and the party set up the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front to wage guerrilla war against the dictatorship during the 1980s. In 1990, the party was legalized when Chile returned to democracy, and the party aided in the electoral victories of socialist candidates Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet. In 2017, it held 6/120 Chamber of Deputies seats and no senate seats.